TO TRIAL CLOSE OR NOT TO TRIAL CLOSE

The arguments used to avoid trial closes are "pressure"and "turning customer's off". Rather than teaching the associates not to trial close, there is greater benefit in teaching them HOW TO TRIAL CLOSE.

After reading David's blog, and Grant's reply I pondered and decided to throw my hat in the ring...

For the past two decades it has been popular for trainers and manufactures to attempt to take selling out of the equation. By falsely claiming we should tip toe around the customer and hope they will volunteer to buy the car after a great demonstration and one attempt at closing. I strongly disagree, about 80% of the customers I have delivered in 26 years say "I did not come to buy today"- as they leave finance. Even in todays information age that percentage is still very high.

With some customers a pro can go right through the paper work using the proper techniques and moxie without ever trial closing. Simply ask for their drivers license and insurance and write them up and deliver them. However, that will not work on all customers, you will miss 20-25% of your business if you do not know when and how to use a trial close. In addition, it is a great opportunity to get the customers take on the vehicle. It is not wise to take selling out of sales, I strongly suggest earning the right to ask and understanding customer body language before asking.

ALWAYS REMEMBER - A deal must "open" before it closes-

Taking the tough questions out of the process will leave you with a lower closing percentage. The skill of asking the tough questions without offending is what the trainers should be teaching.

The objections that are going to come forward are not deal killers or road blocks but are road maps to close the sale. "We are not ready today" or "this is the fist place we have stopped" etc. are actually instructions for how to make the sale!

All pros know verbiage to take the pressure off the customer such as-"If my deal is not acceptable that would definitely be my fault, not yours, c'mon in and do me a favor, if you are not satisfied with the deal please tell me no". " -or "I respect your desire to shop, please allow me to show you a proposal with all the ingredients to assist you in your decision, as I wouldn't expect you to buy with out having all the information"..

The notion that asking for the order today or using a trial close is "pressure" that causes different objections than asking "Do you want to buy the car", immediately after reading the proposal seems absurd to me. The objections are going to come out sooner or later, a customer is SUPPOSED to produce objections and a salesman is SUPPOSED to be well trained and prepared to overcome those.

There is absolutely a need to trial close - I prefer using "if" and posing it as a question or asking them to pull it up in the sold lane while we go inside and wrap this up. I am prepared and fully expect to overcome objections.

Both asking for a trial close or asking for the order after presenting the figures can cause discomfort and seem like "pressure." But only if the customers body language and mood aren't "open." which causes the customer to clam up. If this happens typically the salesman is guilty of one or more of these three things, he or she hasn't earned the right to ask, made friends, or took control of the deal.

Remember they won't buy if they don't like you, but they won't buy just because they like you either, you have to make it make sense, and ask for the order.
To me it's simple, the key is to know when and how to ask, and have the courage to ask. Be prepared for the objections and overcome them. Asking when the customer is not "open" is a bad idea any time during the sale.

The things an unopened customer will discuss with you in order to open the deal are FORM- Family- Occupation- Recreation- Me- (Me the customer not me the sales associate). Make a friend then do your job fact finding, needs assessment, presentation, demonstration, etc. earn the right to ask, make the sure the customer is open, then ask, as long as they are in front of you continue to ask. Be creative, ask in ways that approach the deal from all angles. You will be surprised at the hot buttons you will find. Many times I have closed a deal the 4th, 5th, 6th,or 7th time I've asked.

At Lynn Hickey Dodge in OKC Ok we sold 3083 units in one month, it was mandatory to trial close, however, contrary to popular belief, having a commitment was preferred but not mandatory. Taking every deal as far as we could was the key. We never stopped a deal. We stopped shoppers. The more proposals you show, the more cars you will sell. Properly performed trial closing did not impede our record sales, on the contrary, it assisted them. It will not impede your sales today, it will assist them.

Roger Williams

"The Automotive Coach"

Corporate Sales Manager

Fletcher Auto Group

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Comment by Roger Williams on January 20, 2015 at 12:10pm: Teaching proper trial closing techniques and questions to ease the pressure while asking for the order. Amazing how many sales associates were clueless or had very remedial skills in this important arena....

Comment by Roger Williams on January 16, 2015 at 8:16pm: Brian
That is absolutely one of the best responses I've ever received!
Instant classic material.
Yes Lynn Hickey impacted my life greatly, I was 23 when I started there.
Google Lynn hickeys commercial with Eveil kenevil "the countdown 3000" commercial shot from a conversion can 100 feet in the air on a crane! It's great, there's a gold buying add with to parks you have to sit through but it's worth it.
There is not a lot sales teachers who do it for the glory but every time you get a student who is hungry for knowledge and you share knowledge that changes their lives for the better it is the best feeling in the world. I get more joy out of watching someone I trained blossom than anything else I do in the professional world.
There are always the "know it alls" who despise any form of learning, practice, or training but I don't concentrate on them or let them affect me, I concentrate on the many students I've had that provide better lives for their families due to the instruction and knowledge I shared with them. I'm still in contact with most everyone of them and they are my proudest accomplishment. I'm still doing it and teaching it do I walk the walk and talk the talk which gives me much more credibility.
Thanks again for such a thoughtful response!

Roger

Comment by Brian Bennington on January 16, 2015 at 7:59pm: An excellent subject and a solid post Mr. Williams. Honestly, I'm surprised that anyone whose successfully sold anything would deny how integral trial closes are in the selling process. Your examples and presentation are exceptional, and to me, trial closing is an imperative if your looking to navigate towards a customer's wallet. They point the way. And, like good navigation, they'll quickly let you know if you're "off course." So yes, you can count my vote in favor of trial closing.

As to your post's overview of Lynn Hickey Dodge, I enjoyed it enough that I googled him up and read his bio. He seems to be in that rarified air of dealers (like Ralph Williams, Dominic Longo, Cal Worthington) whose sheer determination and resourcefulness moved them to legendary status in the auto retailing world. Obviously he made a hell of an impression on you. While I don't believe the Lynn Hickey story is that germane to the "To trial close or not to trial close" question, it sure sounds like he'd be voting for it.

My hat's off to you and Jim Fisher in you most important roles as "Teachers of the art of selling." If I had a choice of doing it or, say, sucking on the barrel of a magnum, it would be a tough decision. It's monumentally difficult to teach an art, especially to a group with many in it who are already "living on their egos" and are way too confident they know the game. If you're both good at it, not only would you have my vote for trial closing, you'd have it for sainthood!

Comment by JIm Fisher on January 16, 2015 at 5:56pm: Since it was 1994, I forgot about the other 4 entrances. We would order and drop ship one at a time and them sell them for a lot of gross. New body style really helped.

Comment by Roger Williams on January 16, 2015 at 5:43pm: Oh Jim just an FYI there were 5 entrances and one exit- lol!
Did you enjoy your 4 door 1994 Dodge Ram? I sure enjoyed driving them because people hadn't seen them since the factory didn't build them!
We sold a running ton of them ...

Comment by Roger Williams on January 16, 2015 at 2:35pm: Jim Fisher
Very well said. Ahhh I smiled when I read about the conversion truck! We sent them to a company in Dallas so we had the only extended cabs around. Lynn would have papa jack cline put fancy two tone "fade" paint jobs on them and dress them up with wheels and chrome tips etc. Oh my the grosses were ridiculous.
You're right about the burnout,so many customers, so many deals - wow! Great memories.
Beware of anyone who tells you not to sell!!!

Thanks
Jim

Comment by JIm Fisher on January 16, 2015 at 1:33pm: The road to the sale is not always a straight line. However, most of the procedures of the road to the sale are necessary to get the customer in the position to purchase. Trial closing is not necessary if you close on each aspect of the "road". Qualification of vehicle, product demonstration, demo, service and parts walk, refreshment, closing room, paper verifying selection once more and starting the pricing on every customer.

If you do not do these steps on every customer, it is like shooting at ducks in the dark. You better have good ears and a wide angle shot gun.

I started my career with APB, when you had to do the steps or you could not get a price. Once again, if you had a lot of customer coming in, you could do that. It wan't until the program was adapted that it helped to raise our closing percentage up to 40%.

Another staple is every day meetings held by different Managers or the Manager on duty. If you track all aspects of a deal, you can then prepare meetings each day to cover the difficiency. It not only helps the salesperson, but the Manager is training at the same time. All of the meetings that week would be on either Demos, getting on paper, getting an offer, handling objections or getting bebacks.

Trial closing should never be about whether the buyer wants to buy or can buy or even wants to do it now.

There are 100 doors to close during a sale. The more doors you can close before the closing room, the higher your gross and closing percentage will be.

The only reason for lack of trial closing is fear. Fear of the unknown is the # 1 fear in anything. If you do not know where the sale is going, you will not try trial closes, for fear that you will alienate or upset a customer.

Know the road to the sale, keep the customer going in the right direction and close the little aspects of the sale.

I actually met Lynn Hickey and saw his operation and actually purchased one of his first Dodge Truck 4 door conversions, which you could not get from the factory. He also gave me the idea to provide reward $ to customers to use in the future, which I used in my own dealership.

Once again, his way of fortifying his dealership and having only one way in and one way out was fine, if you wanted to spend big dollars on getting people in. The problem is that what he did, could not be sustained. There was burn out factor for not only his people, but himself.

Never, ever train salespeople to not trial close. Train them to trial close the right way.

Dealerships do not train because is is too expensive and too many people leave.

However, too many people leave because they fail due to lack of training. Hire properly and train, train, train!

Jim Fisher

NeedSalesPeopleNow.com

Comment by Roger Williams on January 15, 2015 at 11:55pm: David,

Thank you for your response, please allow me to elaborate.

Your question about getting people to the lot via the phone or the internet is a valid one, and the answer is the same today as it was then. Sell appointments rather than cars over the phone or the internet. I travel to dealerships and answer phone calls and it never fails the dealership employees say " Wow, I had no idea it was that easy to set an appointment." We tend to make it so much more difficult than it actually is.
The trick is to not spill all your beans or you are like a gas station in a price war, bound to lose even if you get the customer. The customer must have hope for gain or they aren't coming, it's easier than you think. Emails and phone calls all have one thing in common. All the customers say the same thing, it's our job to discover and utilize the highest yielding responses. A customer who has all the information from one store will travel to another store to get a specialist to appraise their trade, see a finance specialist etc.

As for all criticism I hear people spew of Lynn Hickey Dodge, I suspect he could teach most dealers a thing or two these days. I doubt many could stand beside him and win due to the many "Wow" factors Lynn implemented. I didn't say an exact replica of Lynn Hickey Dodge would work right now, however, I guarantee you 90% of the processes and systems Lynn had in place would boost any dealership in America's sales right now. He was simply ahead of his time in his thought process and everything was synergistic and conducive to sales.

Such as:

1) Best daily training of anywhere I've ever seen. No brow beating, no "how great I was when I sold," no "what you guys do wrong" - simple, planned, 30 minute educational sessions covering a subject to grow the skills of sales people. Including roll playing, all aspects of sales, and phone skills. Average 20 cars for 90 days and no training for you. Even 30 year vets attended if their 90 day average skipped below 20. It was all learning, all business and EVERY DAY! Cross training of management, managers switching jobs on predetermined week days.
2) A strong BDC setting as many as 400 appointments in a day, through outgoing calls, incoming calls, and lots of mailers in starting in 1992! Lynn hired a bunch of girls from a phone sales business and put in a BDC that would shame most modern BDCs. They were paid for apts set, shown, and sold. They tracked and recorded everything. If the girls didn't hit their numbers, they were let go. They truly developed business.
3) A very clever pay plan- the liner closer 20% - 10% split with all bonuses in cash and at the morning meeting. Miss it and forfeit your spiffs to the pot. Longevity bonus, Christmas bonus, and top sales "horse race bonus" were great to slow turnover and create excitement.
Daily 8:00 meetings with cash spiffs, miss the meeting, or even be late, and you donated to the "pot" for the salesmen of the month.
4) A tremendous amount of preparation to execute team effort to promote our "big sales" and to get T.O.s on all customers. Manager meeting 7:45, sales meeting 8:00, training 8:30. EVERYDAY. Radio walkie talkies worn by all managers. Well trained sales staff ready to talk to the customers.
5) Although the customers were trapped the repeat business was phenomenal, and the customers were let out buy a "security guard" who let them know the spikes were due to insurance purposes because we had so many units. He was actually a salesman who took one last T.O.!!
6) Paging sales on the loud speakers. All managers (typically 30-40) had to page every 30 minutes so all the customers would say "Wow, you sure sell a lot here, I've counted a dozen sales since I got here"- "Flags are flying an people are buyin' and we just sold another one, LHD and David Ruggles would like to thank the Williams family from Shawnee for their purchase of a new Dodge Ram, thank you folks for shopping the worlds #1 dealer LHD.
7) No negativity, complaining or negativity would get you sent home.
8) Every salesman made 10 calls minimum and had an appointment on the board or could not take an up
9) Sales managers were required to set appointments
10) Pushing each deal as far as it could go, Lynn preached, "We don't stop deals we stop shoppers"! If a customer would not commit, but liked the vehicle, we were trained on how to get them to listen to a proposal, you know what happened next.

Comment by David Ruggles on January 15, 2015 at 8:43pm: That said, there's a lot of good stuff here.

Comment by David Ruggles on January 15, 2015 at 8:42pm: How does one accomplish this over the phone or by email or text? The advantage we once had when we had the buyer in the building is all but gone. There are so many brilliant strategies that worked well then, not so well now.

With all due respect, Lynn Hickey Dodge today would have gone the way of Bill Heard Chevrolet. Yes, the place was a machine based on control of the customer. Customers couldn't leave without permission or their tires would be punctured. I'm not sure that's a good recommendation for today's retail environment.